


Beneath the Ashla. Above the Bogan.

by MinaTheSkywalker



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: First Meetings, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:28:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28216230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinaTheSkywalker/pseuds/MinaTheSkywalker
Summary: Six months after RotJ, A Wanderer's path crosses with that of a rising star. What do they have to give eachother? My version of a conversation between Luke and Ahsoka.
Relationships: Luke Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 5
Kudos: 55





	Beneath the Ashla. Above the Bogan.

Beneath the Ashla. Above the Bogan.

The force sang and glittered like a lake from which years worth of toxins were removed. It's currents that once swirled and raged now streamed steadily. It was at peace. It was at balance.

Ahsoka could get used to it.

Ever since the clone wars, a veil had fallen on the force. Using it had grown difficult to many. The visions they used to have had grown fewer. Less clear. Their usual insights into situations had become vague.

That changed six months ago. She had felt it, and had no doubt that every force sensitive being with modicum of training had felt it too. The poison was removed and the veil was lifted. The lords of the sith were slain.

Her feelings that day had been….conflicting. She was relieved that justice had taken place. Too late perhaps. Too little. But better than nothing. There would be chaos of course, but the Galaxy would heal. And it seemed to be already doing just that.

But she had lost him, and it had hurt. Despite everything he had done and everyone he had taken from her. She had lost him a long time ago, of course. When the clone wars ended, or perhaps even before that. Perhaps it was the day she left him at the temple.

She'd thought it wouldn't hurt. That she'd already accepted that he was long gone. But she had been wrong.

Letting go of her frustrations and sorrow as much as she could, she sank into the force as she sat cross-legged in the small cave. The lantern in front of her bathed her in light and warmth as the Tython rain descended on the rocks and grass outside to create a vague rhythm.

She needed to move on. Every time she thought she had, she still found that a piece of her was still back at the jedi temple. And another on Malachor. And so on. She had spent the years since that fateful day wandering around and helping whomever she could. Taking down a group of pirates here, securing supplies for a village there…..

She always took joy in grateful smiles. In making a difference, however small. But deep down she knew she was running from the pain and loss.

She sighed and opened her eyes. Meditation usually helped with such feelings, but she was particularly restless today. Possibly due to the frustration that had been building up for years.

Five years. Five years since Ezra disappeared above Lothal. She had done her best to try and pick up any leads about Thrawn's whereabouts, but he seemed to have dropped off the face of the galaxy somehow. The wreck of his star destroyer was never found and none of the high ranking imperials she'd managed to "interrogate" had a clue whether or not he'd made any contact with the Empire since his disappearance.

She was almost ready to give up the search, but the force was assuring her that Ezra was still alive, and that something was bubbling beneath the surface. Whether for bad or for good, she couldn't tell.

A flicker of movement by the mouth of the cave caught her eyes. She dropped her hand to one of her lightsabers, but the force remained quiet and offered no warning as the figure walked in.

She squinted, and guessed he was doing the same. "Ahsoka Tano?" he said with a boyish voice as he stepped into the light. "Sabine Wren told me I could find you here."

Her heart stopped and a knot formed in her stomach. He had her round face and nose, but the blue eyes and dark blonde hair were definitely Anakin's. He was shorter than him, but taller than Padmé. And he looked at her with barely restrained wonder and joy beneath his somewhat sheepish smile.

She was not ready for this.

"I'm sorry if I surprised you." He apologized "But I wasn't sure if you'd agree to see me. My name is Luke Skywalker. I'm-"

"I know who you are." she interrupted with a flat tone that betrayed little of what she was feeling. How could she even begin to handle this? "I still have contacts in the rebellion." And she technically did. When she'd reached out to Sabine two months ago, the mandalorian told her all about the kid Hera had mentioned. The one who could use the force to blow up space stations and move things with his mind. The one who used a lightsaber as well as Ezra once did. The one who was dragged into the conflict by a General Obi-Wan Kenobi, who perished fighting Darth Vader aboard the first death star while rescuing Bail Organa's daughter.

The one who walked around carrying her old master's name.

A moment of hurt flickered across his face and she found herself assuring him with a kind smile before gesturing to the wall opposite to her. He relaxed, shed his wet flightsuit to reveal the black clothing underneath and sat facing her, the lantern between them bathing his face in light.

"I'm sorry we never spoke earlier." she said calmly as she took him in. "Your father and I…didn't depart on the best terms.

He winced slightly. "So I've heard."

That worried her a bit. Was he referring to her leaving the order, or what happened on Malachor? Hera likely filled him in on both.

"I'm sorry about what happened." he said with open sympathy that melted her heart.

"Don't." she assumed him with the same kindly smile. "We both made our choices that day." She paused for a while, unsure of what to say. "Do you know how your father died, Luke?"

He gave her a weary look that somehow made him age considerably. "On the second death star."

And so he knew. That brought her relief because she wouldn't have to break it to him, but she couldn't help but feel sympathy for the boy. Surely learning the truth wasn't any easier for him than it was for her. "How long have you known?" she asked sympathetically.

"Well, I've known since about five minutes after he cut off my hand." he said with an awkward chuckle that surprisingly wasn't too bitter. "So, about a year and a half."

His nonchalance about the fact did nothing to ease the pain in her heart. "Obi-Wan never told you?"

He smiled wearily. "He told me Vader had betrayed and murdered my father. It was the truth 'from a certain point of view' according to him."

She smiled with a strange mixture of frustration and fondness. "That does sound like Obi-Wan. He may have been the kindest man I ever knew, but he certainly wasn't above a white lie if he thought it served what he deemed to be the greater good."

"I learned that the hard way." he said wryly. "Still, he's saved my life enough times for me not to be angry anymore."

She smiled and pushed down her bitterment. It still hurt that Obi-Wan was alive all that time and she never got to see him again. Perhaps he could've shed some light on what happened.

Then again, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

They sat together in surprisingly comfortable silence until her eyes fell on his lightsaber. "Did Obi-Wan teach you how to use that?"

He shook his head. "He didn't have much time. Master Yoda trained me for a bit, but I had to continue on my own."

"I can imagine what training with Yoda must've been like." she said with obvious nostalgia.

Luke chuckled. "Let's just say that, for the first few days, I understood why someone would kill his own master."

She laughed lightly and realized how long it had been since her last real laugh. It was the kind of joke Anakin would make.

"Being Yoda's padawan was never easy from what I gathered." she explained "He loved teaching children and all the younglings adored him. No jedi raised at the temple made it to knighthood without learning from Yoda at some point. He was also the grandmaster, our wisest and strongest. Yet his last padawan ended up starting a war."

"Dooku was his padawan?" he asked, and she simply nodded. "Yoda took it hard, even if it wasn't his fault. Dooku was among the greatest masters the order had. No one could've expected what he'd become." which, in hindsight, justified the council's belief that she indeed may have been the one behind the bombing.

Too bad she didn't see that at the time.

"Between that and my father, it's a wonder he agreed to train me at all" He muttered.

"Yoda and Obi-Wan were jedi." she reminded him. "You were their last hope, and they weren't going to let fear get in the way of that." she said as she pulled out a piece of dried galcot and handed it to him. He gladly took it and chewed on it. She remembered Anakin liking those too when they were on missions.

"Well, they made me who I am." He said fondly after swallowing "They taught me that the hardest battles are the ones you can't win with a lightsaber."

A fond smile crossed her face as pain and joy mixed in her. "When I look at you I see Anakin, but when you speak all I hear is Padmé."

He frowned. "How did you know she was my mother?"

She chuckled. "Trust me. Neither of them was subtle about it. Anyone with eyes could tell there was something between them."

Luke grinned before sobering. "I was only confused because their marriage was secret."

Now it was her turn to frown. She had no idea they were married. More importantly, how did he learn that? "Well, I'm sorry about what you went through on Endor. Your father….he was long gone, Luke. Whatever that monster was, he wasn't Anakin." she sighed "In the end, the sith were destroyed by their own greed. Just like always."

He looked confused for a moment before something clicked in his mind. "Oh, I guess you only got the story I told command. I may have….altered things a bit."

She frowned again, a strange sense of anticipation growing around her. "What things?"

He gave her a soft smile. "There's something you need to hear"

* * *

She stood outside the cave beneath Tython's moons, only dimly aware that the rain had stopped. She had no idea how long she stood there after telling Luke she needed some time alone. A numbness seemed to wash over her senses as a tear streamed down her face.

He came back. Somehow his son brought him back.

And he spoke to him after his death. She was taught that one couldn't maintain consciousness after becoming one with the force, but they seemed to have been wrong about that too.

Did he deserve that? He likely didn't. But it wasn't about deserve. He'd returned and that's what mattered. He broke free of what that monster did to him. He ended the terror and brought balance to the force.

He was the chosen one after all.

And his son had the best of both of them. Padme would've been so proud of him. Both of them. Just how had she missed the fact that Bail's little girl was Padme's daughter? She was so much like her, with her father's temper and passion thrown in.

She became aware of Luke coming up behind her, a bit of guilt in his presence. "I'm sorry if I-"

"Don't." she interrupted as she turned back with a grin and pulled him in for a hug. "Thank you." she said while wiping her tears.

He gave his own relieved smile as they broke away. "Well, If you're really grateful…come back with me to the alliance."

She sobered. "Luke, I still have my mission. Thrawn is still out there, and so is my friend. I've already sent everything I have so far to Mon through Sabine-"

"This isn't about that." he said. "When I started this path, I thought I'd have Obi-Wan with me, but Vader took that option. Then I found Master Yoda. I thought it wasn't my burden anymore to bring the jedi back, but he died telling me I had to do just that. And there's so much I still don't know."

She opened her mouth to retort but he interrupted. "I know that you left the order. I'm not asking you to become a jedi again, but I need all the help I can get." he said with a pleading look that melted her heart once again.

She gave him a teasing smirk and nodded. "Alright. I need to speak to Mon anyway to secure new commlines. I'll help you, but only for a few months. Sabine and I have a journey to make."

Luke grinned. "For now, That's good enough for me.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: This is the second interlude in "The Art of War", my direct RotJ sequel, but I felt it could be published as a standalone one-shot. let me know what you think because I really need the reviews. :)


End file.
